TX 612 


.F5 S7 


1917 


Copy 1 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/practicalsmallsmOOunit 



TX 612 
.F5 S7 
1917 
Copy 1 




RTMENT OF COMMERCE 
BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



Economic Circular No. 27 



Issued May 17, 1917 



A PRACTICAL SMALL SMOKEHOUSE FOR FISH. 
How to Construct and Operate It. a 



INTRODUCTION. 

In nearly every locality there are fishes of good food quality that 
seem to find no place in the ordinary domestic economy merely because 
they have not the most approved flavor or texture when prepared in 
the usual manner or because the bones are found troublesome. 
Among these are the bowfins, mooneyes, buffalofishes, carps, and 
sturgeons. Yet these fishes, when cured by the simple process of 
smoking, are of excellent flavor and may be kept several weeks if pro- 
tected from mold. As a result of smoking, the flesh acquires a firm 
texture that makes the removal of bones much easier than in the case 
of fried, baked, or boiled fish. 

Many fishermen find it difficult to dispose of their catch of the 
larger or " coarser " fish except at the very lowest prices, but if the 
fish are properly smoked, which requires very little labor or expense, 
a much higher price may be commanded. It is an additional advan- 
tage that the cured fish do not have to be dumped upon the market 
immediately, but the sales can be distributed over a period of several 
daj^s, if necessary. Furthermore, the customer who would buy only 
2 or 3 pounds of fresh fish for the day's use can properly purchase a 
supply of smoked fish to last one or two weeks. The smokehouse also 
solves a problem for the owner of a fish pond or lake who wishes to 
capture from time to time quantities of the " waste " fish, as he may 
deem them, that seem to crowd the game fish from his pond. 

A small and easily operated smokehouse for fish is, therefore, a 
convenient apparatus and a profitable investment for the fisherman 
and for the pond owner. It will also serve a useful purpose to others. 
The cheaper fish are often sold at the river for nominal prices, from 
1 to 3 cents a pound, while meats of equal food value cost several 
times as much. The householder would then be wise to purchase a. 
quantity of the fish, smoke them in his own back yard, and stock .the 



° Based on experiments by J. B. 
Fair-port, Iowa. 

93763°— 17 



Southall, United States Fisheries Biological Station, 



Monograph 



pantry with nutritions and palatable food, while effecting a real 
measure of economy. Here is evidently a good opportunity for co- 
operation between neighbors. 

Most persons like smoked fish. Others will find it an easy taste 
to acquire. A word of caution should be offered. Do not judge 
smoked fish by the hastily, carelessly prepared product that some 
fishermen are willing to sell. A couple of hours 1 hard smoking may 
make a " smoked fish " in appearance but not in fact. Again, fish are 



-e »l/ 



H 




o'bStfef- 
o oo o o 
o oo o o 
o ooo o 
o oo o o 
o oo o o 
o o 0.0 o 

>| OfQJpJs, O / 

^ o\6'6 cj o 





V 



Fig. 1.- 



-Plan of smokehouse. Note the iron rod (one of a series') near the top, 
sliding trays, smoke-spreader, and ventilator on top. 



smoked with excessive and long-continued heat until the product is 
dry and unattractive, and edible only when cooked. The smoking 
operation is simple, but it requires thought, care, and observation to 
get the most desirable results. Try smoking your own fish if the 
opportunity occurs; it is an interesting experience. 

The construction and operation of a small and inexpensive smoke- 
house, which has been found to be entirely satisfactory when used 
experimentally on the Mississippi River by the Bureau of Fisheries, 



D. of D. 
JUN 13 1917 






3 

is described in the pages following. The methods of smoking, as 
given, refer to common fishes of the Mississippi Basin. With slight 
modification they may be applied to other species of the Atlantic or 
Pacific slopes, and doubtless to many marine fishes. 

CONSTRUCTION OF THE SMOKEHOUSE. 

The house is 3 by 3^ feet inside measurements, 6| feet high at the 
front and 6 feet high at the back, the roof having single pitch. Tf 






.. - -V'f ■■:•:. i"" 



Fig. 2. — A smokehouse hastily constructed in the field. The operator is kindling a 
Are in the Are box, which, it should be noted, is several feet removed from the 
house but connected with it by an underground flue. 

plain boards are used in constructing the house, the cracks must be 
covered with batten strips to prevent the escape of smoke. If yellow 
pine shiplap is available,' a tight house is made without the necessity 
for battens. The shell of the house is made by nailing the boards 
horizontally to 2 by 4 inch corner pieces, which can be on the out- 
side, if desired, so as to leave smooth inside walls. 

The upper half of the front of the house is provided with two 
doers hung on the corner pieces, the outer edge of the right-hand 



door being fitted with a batten that overlaps the other door, thus 
serving to hold it shut and also serving in some measure to prevent 
the escape of smoke. The doors are held shut by two wooden thumb 
buttons, one fastened above and one below the right or battened door 
near the junction of the two doors. 

An opening 4 inches square is left in the forward center of the 
roof, and over it is placed a boxlike ventilator having a 3 by 4 inch 
opening, front and back, for the escape of the smoke and moisture. 
This opening is fitted with a slide damper to control the escape of the 
smoke and also to assist in regulating the draft of the fire. 

The inside of the house is fitted with several removable wire trays 
of simple construction and a single horizontal series of rods of wood 
or iron extending across the house from side to side. The ends of the 
rods rest in or upon 2 by 2 inch strips nailed to the side of the house 
near the top. The trays slide upon rabbeted cleats, or plain strips, 
nailed to the side of the house and from 4 to 6 inches apart. These 
strips need not be level but should preferably have a slope of 6 inches 
toward the front of the house, thus permitting the fish on the trays 
to drain during the process of smoking. 

The fire box and flue are of the sunken type. Into a trench 8 inches 
wide, 8 inches deep,' and 7 feet long there are placed three sections of 
ordinary stovepipe fitted at one end with an elbow. A common stove- 
pipe damper is placed in the middle joint of pipe, the ordinary handle 
being fitted with an extension by means of which the damper is oper- 
ated from above when the pipe is covered with earth. This damper 
is the principal fire and smoke control. With proper regulation the 
fire can be left burning for a considerable length of time without at- 
tention. The pipe is barely covered with earth so that_ the elbow, 
which is to project upward into the house, extends a couple of inches 
above the surface of the ground. At the other end of the pipe a 
sunken fire box, 14 inches wide, 14 inches deep, and 24 inches long, is 
constructed of brick, a heavy piece of sheet metal covered with earth 
when in place serving as the top. A sloping trench in front of the 
fire box facilitates firing. After the fire box and flue are completed 
the house is set over the open end of the elbow, the latter being open 
and near the center of the house, and dirt is then banked around the 
bottom of the house to prevent outside drafts and escape of smoke. 

A most important feature is the smoke spreader, a rectangular 
galvanized iron box 1 foot square and 2 feet long with numerous 
three-quarter-inch holes punched in the sides and ends to permit the 
escape of smoke. With the box placed over the mouth of the elbow 
considerable heat can be applied without scorching the fish and the 
smoke is very evenly distributed throughout the house. 



CLEANING AND SALTING THE FISH. 



In preparation for smoking the fish is first split along the belly 
from head to vent and the entrails removed. With some species, such 
as the bowfin, a short longitudinal cut just behind the vent is made, 
disclosing a dark mass (the kidney), which should be removed. The 




Fig. 3. — The smokehouse in operation. Some of the fish are on trays, one of 
which has been removed for the purpose of photographing. Others, in wire 
slings, are suspended from rods near the top of the house. 

head is then severed and the fish thoroughly washed. The scales 
should be left on. Those fishes having a dark abdominal lining 
should be scrubbed with a stiff brush until the lining is removed. 

If the fish are small, no further treatment is necessary before plac- 
ing them in the brine. If they are large, weighing 2 pounds or 
more, they should be split down the back from the inside, severing 



6 

the ribs close to the backbone, the cut being sufficiently deep so that 
the fish will lie flat." Extra large fish may be cut into two or more 
lengths and the large body pieces split as just described. This 
method of preparing the large fish permits the salt to penetrate more 
easily and insures a more evenly smoked product. 

The small sturgeon of the Mississippi River are only beheaded and 
eviscerated ; sometimes a small portion of the tail is cut off to allow 
the fish to drain while smoking. Large catfish are skinned and cut 
into pieces weighing a pound or more. Large sturgeon should be 
treated in a similar way. Small catfish and bullheads are never 
skinned, as the skin aids in retaining the moisture and prevents the 
outer part from shriveling. 

A brine is prepared by dissolving common barrel salt in clean 
fresh water until it will float a fresh egg, or 1 pound of salt is used 
for each gallon of water. The fish are placed in the brine skin side 
down and, as a general rule, should be left in the brine overnight. 
On removal from the brine they are given a light washing in fresh 
water and then placed on sloping trays or hung up to drain. Fish 
thus allowed to dry for a short time before being placed in the smoke- 
house cure better and present a better appearance when smoked. 

SMOKING THE PRODUCT. 

Fish which are too soft to hang by wires, such as carp, buffalo- 
fish, and bowfin, are placed on trays scale side down, while sturgeon, 
catfish, and bullheads are hung from the rods. If an entire lot is of 
the soft kind the house is filled with the trays, otherwise the upper 
trays are left out to make room for the fish that are to be swung 
from wires. Sometimes the soft fish are pressed between pieces of 
coarse wire cloth secured together in any convenient way. The use 
of " slings " prevents .curling of the edges and permits the fish to be 
suspended from the rods instead of being laid on the trays. 

A slow wood fire is started and the house filled with smoke. The 
heat should be gradually increased until the fish are partly cooked 
and then lessened somewhat, but the house should be kept full of 
dense smoke until the fish are properly cured. Bowfin should be 
smoked rather slowly, from 24 to 36 hours, depending on the size 
of the fish; carp and buffalofish usually require 18 to 24 hours; small 
sturgeon, small catfish, and bullheads need from 6 to 8 hours; large 
catfish and sturgeon, if cut into pieces, can be smoked in 10 to 12 
hours. Some operators build the fire directly under the fish and 
smoke them in 3 or 4 hours, but such a short exposure does not allow 
the smoke to penetrate the thicker portions of the meat, and the 
novice who attempts it will spoil a great many fish by permitting 
the fire to get too hot, It is often necessary to tear off a small piece to 
test the fish while cockinff. 



After the fish are properly smoked they should be left in the 
smokehouse until cold. This eliminates the possibility of sweating, 
which is very likely to occur if the fish are taken out while warm. 
Sweating is one of the principal causes of the growth of mold. 

FUEL USED IX SMOKING. 

Green hickory is the best fuel obtainable for smoking all kinds of 
fish, and, when properly used, gives off a clear white smoke that colors 
the product a rich golden brown and imparts a flavor to the flesh that 
can not be produced by any other wood. As a fuel it is very easy to 
regulate and will give off heat and smoke for hours with one firing. 

Dry oak is very good but produces a darker smoke which has a ten- 
dency to darken the flesh and imparts to it a mild acid flavor. Soft 
or hard maple is sometimes used, but as a general rule, it burns too 
freely, though the product smoked with such wood has a distinct, 
sweet flavor that is greatly esteemed by some. Green ash is as good 
as oak, but it gives off a lighter colored smoke and the flavor of the 
meat is very similar to that produced by hickory smoke. Green wil- 
low gives an abundance of smoke and for this purpose is excellent for 
use with other woods. Sawdust of all woods except the pine is very 
good for dampening the fire, but it does not burn freely enough 
alone to create the required amount of heat. ' 

Corncobs when clean are equal to hickory. They give off a dense- 
smoke, which unduly darkens the product, but on the other hand 
they impart a flavor that is very much liked by most people. 

Pine wood imparts a resinous flavor to the product, making it al- 
most unpalatable ; a small amount may be used with other woods when 
better fuels are not available in sufficient quantity. 

PROTECTIOX FROM MOLD. 

Smoked fish are best kept in a f airly cool and dry place, to prevent 
molding. They should, of course, be protected from ordinary house- 
hold pests. Dipping in melted paraffin is a good means of providing a 
protective envelope about the fish. If this practice is followed, the 
fish should be handled as little as possible after clipping and allowing 
to cool, as the paraffin may crack and chip off. When the fish is to be 
prepared for the table, the paraffin is easily removed by immersing the 
fish for a few moments in hot water. 



WASHINGTON: COVERX.MEXT TUIXTING OFFICE : 1D17 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




012 822 412 9 



